We make great claims in Ireland about the “level playing pitch” of the Leaving Certificate, but that pitch is at quite a slant in relation to oral exams. In the coming weeks, Leaving Certificate students will do their orals, one examiner will be present and each exam will last about 12 minutes.
Gach rud go breá . . . go fóill.
The oral examiners do not know if a candidate is a higher- or ordinary-level candidate, and it is only at the final marking stage that this is taken into account. Candidates are marked out of 100, and marks are adjusted, as the higher-level oral is allocated 25 per cent and the ordinary-level one 20 per cent – except in the case of Irish, ach, cén fáth?
The mark allocation for the Irish oral exam was increased in 2012 from 25 per cent to 40 per cent.
Allocating a different proportion of marks to the oral exam in one language and no other is odd, to say the least.
And another oddity is that no differentiation is made between higher- and ordinary- level candidates of Irish, which results in ordinary-level candidates being penalised, as their 40 per cent is worth far fewer CAO points than higher-level candidates for the exact same exam.
The oral is worth 40 CAO points at higher level but only 24 points at ordinary level. That’s not a very level páirc pheile.
Students studying French can choose to spend their 12 minutes conversing in French and be marked out of 100, while students of Spanish and Russian can attain only 70 marks for their chat, Italian speakers 50 marks, German speakers 40 marks and Japanese speakers only 35.
Agus cad faoin Ghaeilge? A hundred and twenty marks (50 per cent) for their comhrá, but they can attain five marks for giving name, age etc (after 14 years studying the language) and an incredible 35 marks for reading some lines of well-rehearsed poetry.
The NCCA is tasked with advising the State Examinations Commission on assessment but, in my view, seems not to have researched best practice in relation to assessment of spoken language.
Why is role-play part of the German, Spanish, Italian and Russian assessment but not of French or Irish? Why is reading included in the Irish oral but not in any other oral? Why is there no differentiation between higher- and ordinary-level Irish and why not 40 per cent for all languages?
Ní thuigim!
This column gives a voice to those within the education system who wish to speak out anonymously. Contributions are welcome to sflynn@irishtimes.com